


Prayers for Rain

by scapeartist



Series: 15-Minute Masterpieces [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Queens of Darkness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 18:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6530809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scapeartist/pseuds/scapeartist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prompt was "Maleficent & Music." The title comes from the Cure song of the same name. Feel free to Google the lyrics, they are fairly appropriate to Maleficent when she was at her lowest. This takes place during season 4B when Regina was trying to gain their trust by drinking Granny's dry with the Queens of Darkness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prayers for Rain

**Author's Note:**

> Each one-shot in this series is part of a writing prompt exercise. I was having some trouble getting into the writing groove again and asked for a word and a character, and from there I would spend at least 15 minutes writing, I would not heavily edit, nor would I use a beta. This was purely me needing to get my brain moving. The "Masterpiece" part is tongue-in-cheek (even if most of these are not bad at all).

**Prayers for Rain**

The reunion “party,” such as it was, had wound down. Bottles from the old wolf’s bar sat, drained and taking up space, on the crowded table, as Maleficent, Regina, Cruella, and Ursula one-upped each other telling tales of villainy, spite, and destruction. Maleficent stopped contributing once the diner had emptied of other patrons as well as the old wolf herself. Being locked in an underground cave in her dragon form or a pile of ash left her with very little to work with. That was a story for Regina to tell, not her.

Two, maybe four, glasses of wine ago, Ursula had wandered off toward the back, and, not long after, music filled the small diner. Maleficent didn’t think much of it, music being far more important to Ursula than her, but now, in the relative quiet, something about the song playing filled her with a melancholy she hadn’t felt since before Regina showed up all those years ago when her fire was lost to her. That time was a hazy memory; the number of empty decanters three times what was in front of her now, until not even that was enough, and diluted sleeping curse was the only thing that could numb her. What she lacked in drinking companions, she made up for in the number of missing and seemingly endless days, which were countless.

Her fire was back, but now her child was lost to her. That sense of drowning in desperation to get back what was part of her tugged and beckoned with the plaintive melody.

“What’s this song?” She asked during a lull in conversation.

Cruella shook her head, a smile fixed on her face in something too close to patronizing for Maleficent’s taste. “Who cares, darling? It’s dreary as that junk heap Rumple calls a pawn shop.”

“Obviously I care or I wouldn’t be asking.” Maleficent turned to Ursula and raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Well? You must know.”

Ursula grinned. “As it happens, I do. But first, I am curious why you want to know.”

Mal crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, her fingers tapping lightly over the silk of her blouse sleeve as she attempted to look bored. “Never mind. It’s not important.”

Regina practically snorted as she downed the last gulp of her drink. “Why am I not surprised this is the song that catches your attention?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Maleficent asked.

Smiling—all teeth and half snarl—Regina leaned back into the corner of the booth and placed her empty glass in front of her.

“It’s morose just like you.” She tipped her head to the side and continued before Mal could respond. “Well, like you used to be. Back when I first met you.”

Mal’s shoulders dropped, but her back stiffened. Regina chuckled.

“I don’t remember anything particularly funny about that time,” Maleficent said.

Still smiling, Regina shook her head. “No, it wasn’t funny until after I got here and had 28 tedious years to be bored enough to learn about this place.” She nodded in the general direction of the jukebox.  “The band who plays this song—The Cure—you would have fit in with them.”

Maleficent narrowed her eyes and waited for Regina to elaborate, her curiosity piqued, but her willingness to let any of them know nonexistent.

Regina wagged her finger at Maleficent. “Little did you know that sullen dragon queen was a style in this realm, but it was. And you would have ruled it.”

“But not anymore,” Maleficent said looking Regina squarely in the eyes.

“No. Not anymore,” she agreed. “Now you’d give any crime lord a run for his money.”


End file.
